The geo-cultural shift  in the global art market was clearly felt at Sotheby's Hong Kong early this month. The auction house - in a prescient marketing ploy - enlisted pop phenom T.O.P (real name Choi Seung-Hyun) from Korea's all-boy band BIG BANG to curate an art exhibition for auction. T.O.P's interest in art isn't coincidental - his granduncle is Korea's leading post-war contemporary artist Kim Whanki, and T.O.P has parlayed that influence into good friendships with the likes of Japan's Takashi Murakami and other artists. He also leveraged his artistic clout to borrow Jean-Michel Basquiat's Infantry from Japanese collector Yusaku Maezawa, who bought it earlier this year. 

The exhibition and auction, #TTTOP, the result of a year-long collaboration, celebrates the rise of young Asian collectors who seek art across cultural boundaries. By showcasing new and important Asian artists, the sale united various generations, cultures, styles and schools of thought. This selection not only reflected T.O.P’s artistic choices - he commissioned six works from Japanese artists including Murakami -  but also the international taste of the young Asian collecting community. A portion of the proceeds of the sale will be donated to the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) to provide opportunities to emerging Asian artists.

Yuki Terase, Specialist of Sotheby's Contemporary Asian Art Department and curator in charge of the sale which raised US$17.4 million, said of the event: "Through video, social media, the web and exhibitions in Korea and Hong Kong, we introduced millions of young enthusiasts to T.O.P's passion for art and the work of this special group of contemporary artists." 

Part of that community includes heavyweights like Shanghai's Kelly Ying. China's answer to Moscow's Dasha Zhukova, Ying co-founded Art021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair with Bao YIfeng in 2013, on a scale and ambition to rival Art Basel. (This year's Art021, November 11-13, features work Ying especially commissioned from prominent Chinese artist Liu Wei and the inaugural visit of New York art power dealer David Zwirner). 

Ying was shopping during T.O.P's art moment and had her eye on a very personal and stunning piece. T.O.P had commissioned Naoki Tomita, a young Japanese painter and recent graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts, to create an oil painting View (T.O.P) from a photo he'd originally taken on his iPhone in Germany and posted to his Instagram. It came as little surprise shortly after Terase registered a telephone bid of US$29,000, to find a joyous message posted on Ying's Instagram account (@kellyyingxoxo): "Finally I got it!!, wrote Ying, "Love the concept and the artist." 

Asia is making its voice and presence increasingly felt in the art world, and a 20-something pop and art star with a  5.8 million Instagram following (@choi_seung_hyun_tttop) whose curation and art commissioning is watched and bought by glamorous 30-something artrepreneur and cultural impresario Ying, is a sino the times in a rapidly changing art world. 

Image: Naoki Tomita, View (T.O.P). Courtesy of Sotheby's Hong Kong